1. Field
The present teachings relate to financial transactions and, in particular, to a system and method pertaining to prepaid activation and replenishment with a point-of-sale device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, prepaid products and services, such as prepaid calling cards, prepaid cellular phone service, prepaid movie rentals, etc., are popular. Many retail locations offer these prepaid products and services for sale. Unfortunately, common prepaid products and services are inconvenient for merchants to process due to worker inefficiency. For example, a customer requests prepaid service, such as a purchasing prepaid long distance minutes, by taking a calling card to the merchant counter so that the worker can activate the minutes on the calling card. The merchant is then required to call the service provider and activate the minutes, which can tie up the phone system and take an undesirably long time. Typically, the minutes on the calling card cannot be activated until an authorization code, such as a PIN number, is given to the worker over the phone and, subsequently, given to the customer. This process can be inconvenient for the merchant due to the amount of time the worker has to spend on phone with the service provider while waiting for authorization. Also, this may cause some stress for the merchant and worker because there may be other customers in line impatiently waiting for their turn.
While more efficient systems exist for processing transactions, such as risk analysis and assessment, many of these systems do not have the capability to handle prepaid services as prepaid services may have a many different vendors or service providers for each product or service. One example of a transaction processing system includes an automated check acceptance service, such as Telecheck, that uses an existing communication network for electronic check verification and acceptance. Typically, these check acceptance services use a dedicated communications network that automatically transmits information about the promissory payment to a central approval agency which then automatically processes the transaction. Subsequently, the vendor receives an indication whether the transaction is to be accepted or declined. As such, the check acceptance services does not impose a substantial burden on the worker in the store as it is a largely automated process that utilizes a separate communications network.
Unfortunately, the use of a dedicated automated network is generally not financially viable for pre-paid goods and services. Specifically, it is possible that the store front will have to have a separate network connection for each prepaid good or service being sold. This could include a separate network for each identical goods and services provided by competing suppliers. Further, the cost of developing the network for the pre-paid services is generally an expense that pre-paid services have been unwilling to undertake.
Hence, there is a need for a more efficient way of activating prepaid goods and services. To this end, there is a need for an automated authorization service that can be used with a variety of different pre-paid goods and service providers which does not require separate networks for each goods and services provider.